[A U.S. startup carried out a geoengineering experiment in Mexico,
which the country claims was done without prior notice and consent]
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MEXICO PLANS TO BAN SOLAR GEOENGINEERING AFTER ROGUE EXPERIMENT  
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Sebastian Rodriguez, Joe Lo
January 18, 2023
Climate Home News
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_ A U.S. startup carried out a geoengineering experiment in Mexico,
which the country claims was done without prior notice and consent _

The stunt took place in the Mexican state of Baja California ,
NASA/Norman Kuring

 

MEXICO ANNOUNCED THIS TUESDAY A SET OF MEASURES TO BAN SOLAR
GEOENGINEERING EXPERIMENTS IN THE COUNTRY, AFTER A US STARTUP BEGAN
RELEASING SULFUR PARTICLES
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THE ATMOSPHERE IN THE NORTHERN STATE OF BAJA CALIFORNIA.

The Mexican government said it will develop a strategy to ban future
experimentation with solar geoengineering, which will also include an
information campaign and scientific reports. However, the government
did not announce more specific actions.

“Mexico reiterates its unavoidable commitment to the protection and
well-being of the population from practices that generate risks to
human and environmental security,” said the government in
a statement
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Geoengineering refers to the act of deliberately changing the
Earth’s systems to control its climate.

One theoretical proposal has been to spray sulphur particles to cool
the planet —which has been documented to briefly happen after
volcanic eruptions.

A recent United Nations report
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that this practice, known as stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI),
“has the potential to reduce global mean temperatures”.

But, it found, it “cannot fully offset the widespread effects of
global warming and produces unintended consequences, including effects
on ozone”.

The UN convention on Biological Diversity established a moratorium
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2010, in the absence of enough scientific data and regulations.

Rogue experiment

In 2022, the US startup Making Sunsets launched an unauthorised
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from two sites in the northern Mexican state of Baja California. The
company claims it launched balloons injected with sulphur dioxide
particles into the atmosphere, which were not monitored nor recovered.

The company’s co-founder Luke Iseman said he conducted the
experiment in Baja California because he lives there.

The Mexican government said the experiment was carried out “without
prior notice and without the consent of the Government of Mexico and
the surrounding communities”.

Making Sunsets is already selling
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credits” for future balloon flights with larger amounts of sulphur
dioxide for $10 each.

“Your funds will be used to release at least 1 gram of our
‘clouds’ into the stratosphere on your behalf, offsetting the
warming effect of 1 ton of carbon dioxide for 1 year,” the company
claims on its website.

Lily Fuhr, deputy program director at the Center for International
Environmental Law (Ciel), said in a statement
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by offering a “cheap and easy quick fix” to the climate crisis,
the company “plays into the hands of the fossil fuel industry”.

“Solar geoengineering is too risky and ungovernable to pursue. We
support the Mexican government in their plan for a ban and call on
them to immediately stop the new flights that ‘Make Sunsets’ has
announced for January 2023,” Fuhr said.

Side effects

James Haywood is a professor of atmospheric science at Exeter
University and co-wrote the recent UN report on SAI.

He told Climate Home that Make Sunsets experiment was not dangerous as
the amount of sulphur was so small.

“It is more of a [public relations] stunt,” he said, adding
“it’s not going to make a blind bit of difference”.

But putting larger amounts of sulphur in the atmosphere can be
dangerous, he said.

While many of the side-effects of SAI can be avoided if it is done
properly, he said, some are very difficult to avoid.

For example, he said, putting large amounts of sulphur into the
atmosphere is likely to increase winter rainfall over northern Europe
and reduce it over southern Europe, particularly in Spain and
Portugal.

Speaking before the Mexican statement, Haywood said that at the moment
there “is no government, no governance” of geoengineering and that
he wasn’t aware of any governments proposing regulations.

Ciel called on more governments to announce bans on the practice.

_SEBASTIÁN RODRÍGUEZ joined Climate Home News in 2022 as special
projects editor. Based in San José Costa Rica, he started out as a
reporter for Ojo al Clima, Central America’s first climate news
outlet. He has reported on climate for Reuters, DW and Mongabay.
Before joining Climate Home News, he was editor in chief at Climate
Tracker._

_JOE LO is a reporter for Climate Home News. He has previously
specialised in container shipping, UK politics and investigative
stories about Scotland. His work has appeared in the Guardian, Al
Jazeera and Deutsche Welle._

_Climate Home News is the trading name of Climate Change News Ltd, a
UK company registered at 42a, High Street, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10
1JT._

_Its CEO and founder is James Ramsey._

_At CLIMATE HOME NEWS, we believe quality climate journalism can
change the world for the better. Here’s how we play our part._

_Mission
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tackle the global climate crisis._

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* Climate Change
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* geoengineering
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* pseudoscience
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* Mexico
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